Lead Story
Northern Arizona University professor Con Slobodchikoff told the Albuquerque Journal in December that the yips and barks of prairie dogs may constitute a communication system surprisingly close to actual language: different communities of the same species appear to use related but distinguishable dialects, and prairie dogs independently shown the same unfamiliar objects responded with the same newly coined calls.
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“Cleric Suspect Misses Hearing Due to Long Toe Nails” (Reuters, London, January): Radical Islamic leader Abu Hamza al-Masri, charged in Britain with inciting his followers to violence, found walking too painful to make even a video-conferenced court appearance. “Fireworks Explode in Pants, Burn Boy” (New Orleans Times-Picayune, January): An 11-year-old imprudently played with a sparkler after storing extra bottle rockets in his pocket for later. “Cops: Mom Used Hammer on Son Over Homework” (Associated Press, Saint Louis, January): A woman was charged with four felonies for her homework supervision technique, which allegedly also involved pliers.
Earmon Wilson, 44, walked into police headquarters in Buffalo, New York, in January and confessed to two burglaries in his apartment building, even though he wasn’t a suspect; apparently his conscience was bothering him, which is what he told police in October 1994 when he turned himself in for robbing a local bank.
